The Colonel Al Byrne Award recognizes local individuals who share the late Colonel’s belief that all youth should be provided the facilities and adult leadership to experience athletic training and competitive individual and/or team sports. They also believe, as the Colonel did, that those youth that participate will learn skills and obtain values that will help them succeed in their later life endeavors. The award recipient has also demonstrated a commitment to these beliefs by sharing his or her time, talents and, in many cases, personal resources with no recognition required or desired. The award is voted on by the past presidents of the association and is a tightly held secret until the winner is revealed the night of the annual All Sports Association Awards Dinner each February.
Colonel Al Byrne Award Nomination Form (click HERE for form)
Please submit and non-electronic nominations to: Rube Manasco (phone 850-420-7624), Col. Al Byrne Award Chairman, [email protected], or mail to: All Sports Association, P.O. Box 2591, Fort Walton Beach, FL 32549
2021 Colonel Al Byrne Award Recipient – Cornell Tinner
Cornell Tinner, and his long association with youth football in the panhandle of Florida, has made a dynamic impact on the lives of hundreds of young men and women over the last 23 years. Through his tireless work over many years, he established in both the Panhandle Youth Football Association and the Niceville Football Little League a positive learning environment that stresses teamwork, discipline, and leadership as its cornerstones.
He has coined the phrases, “Win with pride, lose with dignity”, “Teamwork makes the dream work”, and “Take care of your opponents” as the principles that guide and inspire the young men and women that participate in the Panhandle Youth Football Association (PYFA). His dynamic leadership, vision, and superb people-skills were singularly responsible for taking a program that was struggling to survive and with his own financial resources, succeeds in making it the “model” for youth sports in the state of Florida. In fact, many youth football programs inside and outside the state of Florida have asked him personally to help their own programs improve and grow utilizing the sound principles he established for the PYFA and Niceville Youth Football.
In addition, Cornell Tinner is a man devoted to helping those that are in need as well as honoring the memories of our best that have passed on. He was the chief architect and driving force behind the establishment and continued success of the “Brickhouse Classic,” an annual Thanksgiving youth football tournament in the Florida panhandle that has raised money for local charities including the Taylor Haugen Foundation. Further, Cornell Tinner established a scholarship program within the Niceville Football Little League that allowed those with limited financial resources the opportunity to participate in youth football.
His tireless efforts to improve local youth football facilities have resulted in recognition by Impact 100 of Northwest Florida as a 2017 finalist for highly sought grants supporting organizations making a positive impact on the lives of the citizens of Northwest Florida. The positive impact Cornell Tinner has had on the lives of young men and women in the panhandle of Florida is measured every day with the notable academic and athletic successes achieved in middle school, high school, and college.
Cornell Tinner personifies the very high qualities and devotion to youth athletics and solid character development that Colonel Al Byrne would have applauded and that this prestigious award honors.
Past Col. Al Byrne Award Winners
2020 Crawford “Bear” Henley
2019 George Goodall
2018 Ray Chavez
2017 Todd Gatlin
2016 Sherman Moon
2015 John Watts
2014 Brian and Kathy Haugen
2013 Bill Shirah
2012 Rev. James T. Ross
2011 Ralph Duncan
2010 Fred Carley
2009 Bob Lynn
2008 Tom Brassell, Don Pattison
2007 Rube Manasco
2006 Sam Brunson
2005 Paul Martin
2004 James C. “Jimmy” Campbell
2003 Mary Jane Ross
2002 Huburt “Rocky” Bates
2001 Bull Cochran
2000 James Campbell
1999 Bruce Ravan
1998 Charles Morgan, John Shortall
1997 Judge Alfred Ben Gordon, Jr., Kathleen A Ravan
1996 Ralph Frangioni
1995 Al Beedie
1994 Hiram Cook
1993 Leven Lord
1992 Bill Roberts, Jr., Pud Hutcheson, Robert Taylor
1991 Ray Deal, George Palmer
1990 Buddy O’Neal, H.A. Bruner, Jay Farris, Arthur Mikel
1989 Julius Rice, M.L. Hayden
1988 Michael Woodham
1987 Louis Woodham, H.P. Pat Campbell, Bill Preston, Sr., Gene Thomas
1986 Grady Smith
1985 Dr. Eddie Zant
1984 Ron Balicki
1983 O.R. Bailey
1982 Joe Etheridge
1981 Houston Harrison
1980 Jerry Brigante
1979 Rev. Talmadge Smith
1978 Buddy Elliott
1977 Dr. Jerry Hollingsworth
1976 Bettye Campbell
1975 Hal Wyatt
1974 Buck Smith
